


white josh’s boyfriend needs assistance (possibly medical)

by anthropologicalhands



Category: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (TV)
Genre: 3x06, Gen, M/M, Missing Scene, girl group features here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-09
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-29 04:38:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13919544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anthropologicalhands/pseuds/anthropologicalhands
Summary: White Josh isn't surprised his boyfriend rushed off to see Rebecca Bunch without sunscreen or a plan. He just hopes that Darryl doesn't hurt himself. Missing scene from 3x06.





	white josh’s boyfriend needs assistance (possibly medical)

**Author's Note:**

> The scene with the girl group and Darryl at the end of this episode is just so tender, I wanted a little coda, because that sunburn does look nasty. And you know White Josh would have things to say about it. Fluff with a little bit of angst, for upcoming events.

Josh returns to West Covina after AAA arrives with the car’s replacement battery, three hours after his boyfriend charged out of the yurt as a man on a mission. There a semblance of a breeze and the traffic coming from the desert has significantly died down, so the drive is less unpleasant than it could have been, and he is able to make the journey in just under two hours.

After passing the sign for West Covina, he pulls over and calls Darryl.

“WhiJo!" Darryl sounds cheerful, if at a higher pitch than usual. "You got service again?”

“I’m not in the yurt anymore, I’m back in town. Where are you? Did you get to see Rebecca?”

“I did! I did, I’m still there.”

Josh relaxes. Despite himself, he had worried if Darryl's presence would be welcomed so soon, or if it would be seen as an intrusion.

“That’s good. You guys are hanging out then?”

There is a slightly guilty pause from the other end of the phone.

“Well, actually – _ouch!”_

He yelps, and Josh has to pull the phone back a couple of inches from his ear.

“D…you okay, dude?”

“I’m fine! Paula just added more ice in the pool.”

“…Rebecca has a pool? Why are you in the pool? Why is there ice?”

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s nothing too serious. And the pool is Paula’s –one of those inflatable tubs. See, I got a _tiny bit_ burned driving in from the desert…”

 _“He looks like a flamingo!”_ Josh can hear Paula shout from somewhere in the background, while his still-sensitive ears easily pick up Valencia snapping out instructions, the clink of ice being dumped out of a bag and further yelps from Darryl.

Josh brings the phone back to his ear once the cacophony subsides.

“Darryl, what’s going on?”

“…I might have lost my hat.”

Oh God.

“I’m coming to pick you up.”

“That would be great, but maybe in a couple of hours? Heather’s looking up instructions and the internet says I still need to soak to keep the blistering from getting worse...”

“I’m coming now.”

“Okay.”

 

* * *

 

 

Josh takes one look at Darryl’s vibrant red skin and says, “Get up, we’re going to the emergency room.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary,” blusters Darryl, sitting fully clothed in a bright green inflatable pool filled with ice just outside Rebecca’s front door, his shoulders shuddering around his ears. “We’ve got it under control!”

“Darryl, listen to your boyfriend,” says Paula, coming out of the house with a glass of water and a compress, Valencia following close behind with a short stack of hand towels. “You’re in bad shape. Human beings should not be this color.”

“I’ll be fine, it’s just skin!”

“Yeah, it’s only your largest organ,” says Josh, circling around the kiddie pool, studying Darryl, his dismay growing. “And it’s supposed to be protecting your other organs— _Dude,_ this is bad. You’re going to peel like crazy.”

“Not if I can help it –I found the aloe vera!” says Valencia triumphantly from the other side of the kiddie pool, pulling out a small, green-capped jar from her make-up bag. Sometimes Josh’s brain still short-circuits at this new Valencia, who’s ditched the boxed water, drinks coffee and channels her fierce territoriality into taking care of her friends.

Darryl beams up at her like she’s the Madonna.

(Like, the _actual_ Madonna, not the singer.)

“See?” Darryl gestures extravagantly upwards. “I have _aloe vera_. Everything’s fine!”

Josh puts his hands on his hips and sighs.

He loves his boyfriend’s ever-present optimism, he really does. He just sometimes wishes it came with a _dash_ of patience. Just a pinch.

“Darryl, your skin is starting to turn purple; you need more than aloe vera,” says Rebecca, appearing in the entrance of the house, lotion bottles in hand. “Valencia, where do you want me to put these?”

She stops in the door frame when she notices him. “Oh, White Josh.”

“Rebecca.” He shifts, suddenly uncomfortable, and sinks his hands into his pockets. She just looks at him for a long moment, still hovering in the doorframe, uncertain.

“You’re, uh, wearing a shirt,” she says at last. “Good for you.”

“Huh? Why is that surprising?”

She smiles, not one of her toothy grins, but a wry quirk of the mouth. “Darryl said he, uh, borrowed your shirt for his desert odyssey. Not that it helped.” She gestures towards the ice bath with a twirl of her index finger. “I assumed it was your only one.”

“So, you thought I was just wandering around the desert half-naked?” he asks, almost rhetorically. “Makes sense.”

Rebecca shrugs. “No. I mean, it was just as likely you were doing some weird, meditative, becoming-one-with-nature thing on a rock somewhere. Or doing pushups. Also on a rock. Maybe one-handed.”

“Haha,” he retorts, but it lacks bite. He watches her cross the doorstep at Valencia’s beckoning to place the bottles by their other supplies. She looks pale, but better than he feared. There are a lot of things he can say about Rebecca Bunch, and has said in the past. But he got the messages, too.

He watches her kneel down next to the pool and inspect a blistered patch on Darryl’s shoulder with some tenderness, and it’s like she’s a different person from the woman who has been tearing his best friend’s life to shreds –no more glitter and lipstick, everything scrubbed down to the bare vital stuff needed to make up Rebecca Bunch, now smaller than he’s ever seen her.

“Rebecca.”

She pauses in her ministrations and looks up at him, and Josh doesn’t think he’s ever seen her move like that before, slowly and with such deliberation.

“You look good,” he says at last.

Rebecca watches him for a long moment, then smiles again, a little more naturally, easing more into the habit of it.

“Thanks,” she says. “And sorry, um, I think I kind of broke your boyfriend.”

Josh shakes his head. “Nah, he did this to himself.”

“It’s worth it, I had to see my girl,” insists Darryl, looking between them, and Josh feels a small burst of affection for him, soothing his irritation that his boyfriend couldn’t wait a few hours to prevent something that will definitely cause weeks of pain.

“And I’m happy to see you, too,” says Rebecca, as sincere as Josh has ever heard her. “But seriously, Darryl, you need to go to the emergency room.”

“Actually, he might not,” says Heather, wandering out with her laptop to join the party. “There are a ton of home remedies that should, like, help ease the pain. And I think the blisters look worse than they actually are – if he keeps them clean it should be okay.”

“Hi Heather,” says Josh.

Heather looks up from her screen. “Hey, WhiJo. How was the yurt?”

Josh gives her a short wave. “Not bad, kind of stuffy, but we met some pretty nice people.”

Heather nods, unblinking. “Did you guys work things out?”

Josh hesitates. Truthfully, they haven’t talked that much more about the whole baby thing, first with the herbs and the time it took to set up the yurt, and then Rebecca. They haven’t really had the chance.

“It’s a work in progress,” he says instead. And it is true –he’s still not entirely sure what he wants to do about it. He never thought about having children, and certainly not so quickly. He understands why Darryl might be interested in having another kid, but it’s also _Darryl_. He is enthusiastic and impulsive about everything, from his name to his sexuality and even to jumpstarting their relationship. But he can’t be that certain about _everything,_ especially not kids. And it’s not like Darryl _isn’t_ happy about where they are, Josh is sure of it. He just needs a little more time.

Heather hums without saying anything, just keeps looking at him. Josh breaks her gaze, looking down to the stonework under his sandals. There aren’t many people who can make him squirm, but Heather might be one of them, with her uncanny ability to look right past what people say to what they do.

“Well, if you aren’t going to break up, I’m going to send _you_ the treatment instructions,” she says at last. “He’s going to need a lot of lotion over the next few days, so you get to take care of that part.”

“Lucky me.”

“I can do that myself!” protests Darryl. He’s about to say more, but then Paula slaps a cold compress on the back of his neck and all that comes out is a strangled whimper, while Rebecca gingerly pats him on the back and Valencia dabs her hands with aloe gel.

“You also did this to yourself,” Paula tells him. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Just sit tight, Darryl,” says Heather. “WhiJo, I’m sending you the articles, but like, try not to look at the pictures. Some of them are _nasty_.”

Josh grimaces. “Wonderful, thanks for the warning.”

“You’re welcome,” says Heather, putting down the laptop and moving to join Valencia. Josh also comes to join the huddle, bending down to sit cross-legged by the makeshift bath. He tries not to disturb the women on the other side, near the door, moving and talking quietly to each other, considerate enough to give him and Darryl some space.

“I might need a _little_ help,” admits Darryl, chastened, letting his arm flop over the pool’s edge, hand extended. Josh takes it and smiles at him, affection overriding any lingering exasperation.

“Don’t worry about it, D. You don’t have to do anything on your own.”

Darryl’s smile is small and genuine, but it does not quite reach his eyes. Josh wonders, with some concern, if the pain is worse than it looks.

“But some things I will have to do on my own,” Darryl insists, unusually serious. “I can’t ask you to always stay around.”

“Nah,” Josh shakes his head, confident. “You’ve got me, everything will be fine. It’ll be over in a few weeks.”

Josh squeezes Darryl’s hand, in promise.

After a moment’s hesitation, Darryl returns the gesture.


End file.
